VIDEO: Google Opens Doodle 4 Google 2013 with $30,000 Scholarships and $50,000 in Prizes

Doodle 4 Google is an annual program that invites K-12 students in the United States to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign Google's homepage logo for millions to see. They've just announced the official start of the 2013 contest.

This year, they are asking students to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, "My Best Day Ever..." One talented student artist will see their artwork appear on the Google homepage, receive a $30,000 college scholarship, and a $50,000 technology grant for their school along with some other cool prizes!

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In 1998, before the company was even incorporated, the concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and Sergey placed a stick figure drawing behind the second "o" in the word, Google. This was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were "out of office" While the first doodle was relatively simple, the idea of decorating the company logo to celebrate notable events was born.

Two years later in 2000, Larry and Sergey asked the then current webmaster Dennis Hwang to produce a doodle for Bastille Day. It was so well received by our users that Dennis was appointed Google's chief doodler and doodles started showing up more and more regularly on the Google homepage. In the beginning they mostly celebrated familiar holidays; nowadays, they highlight a wide array of events and anniversaries from the The 1st Drive-In Movie to the the educator Maria Montessori.

As doodles have continued to grown, embrace new technologies, and experiment in different artistic mediums, the creation of doodles is now the responsibility of a team of talented illustrators (we call them doodlers) and engineers. For them, creating doodles has become a group effort to enliven the Google homepage and bring smiles to the faces of Google users around the world.